Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.10.2010, Side 33

19
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 16 — 2010
Music | CD Reviews
Dubstep has grown from a small London
niche to the predominant genre in
electronic music. Alas this has meant
that most stuff you’ll hear is often
sub-standard techno DJs whacking an
elephant anus-prolapse bass synth over
tinny beats.
Thank goodness that the guys of
Mount Kimbie have come along to give
us a different take on those syncopated
beats. What ‘Crooks and Lovers’ does
is replace the sweaty claustrophobia of
most dubstep and cool it down an array
of influences and sounds. You have the
glacial R&B of ‘Would Know’, the post-
rock guitars and machine pulse synths of
‘Field’, while ‘Before I Move Off’ sounds
like Norwegian freak folk produced by
Four Tet. For those requiring a classic
dubstep fix, there is the tight, skittering
percussion with wobbling bass on ‘Blind
Night Errand’.
Crooks and lovers defies clear defini-
tion. Is it Post dubstep? Hyper wonky?
Twoblokesfannyingaround? Whatever
you call it, it’s the sound of a genre being
torn apart and put back together with
the end result sounding better than most
current dubstep music out there.
- BOB CLuNESS
Here we have a group of young dudes
that are good friends. They’re horny,
amped and there are no brakes. That’s
how you should sound early in your ca-
reer. Especially if you love spastic punk,
noisy hardcore and metal. The result is
like being stuck in a wind tunnel. When
sitting through the whole thing, you’d be
forgiving for breaking sweat. So, right
there, you’re in for a ride. This band is
talented and fun to behold. Check. It’s
very possible that Swords are taking cues
from some of the old GSL, Three One G
bands and early Blood Brothers.
Internationally, the envelope is hardly
being pushed but in an Icelandic context,
they’ve carved their own niche. Swords
Of Chaos trump most of these bands
in the bass-playing department. The
guitar and drum work is a little bit samey
throughout. Consequently the record
needs more variation. When slightly
spiced up (‘Mandibular Wolf Tooth in
Horse’, ‘Nashkel Mines’ and ‘Chip-On
Disguise Chops’) it clearly demonstrates
how it wouldn’t have taken much season-
ing to make ‘The End Is As Near As Your
Teeth’ an irresistible delicatessen.
- BIRkIR fJALAR VIðARSSON
This is magnificent. It really is. Miri, the
band who made the album in question,
are almost purely an instrumental band,
and when they use vocals they are used
rather as instruments rather than to
convey a meaning. The only song that
contains vocals on this particular album
is ‘Draugar’. The lyrics are probably
nonsense words.
Most of their songs are pretty experi-
mental yet accessible at the same time.
How they achieve this is anyone’s guess.
It warrants a mention that this is not
dada-esque in its experiments, but com-
pared to “regular music” it’s still different.
Songs reach the seven-minute mark and
you don’t notice, which is something that
rarely happens to me.
Miri’s Okkar is a special record as it
achieves incredible success as a creative
venture while also remaining—to put it
simply—fun to listen to.
- MAGNúS B. GuðMuNdSSON
Sketches for Albinos is the solo project of
Iceland based musician-slash Bedroom
Community affiliate Matthew Collings.
Now he’s striking out on his own with this
debut effort containing sixteen tracks
of soft, numbing, shoegaze-y ambient
noodlings.
Listening to the opening track,
‘Sorbonne Midnight’, with its muted
underwater piano did make me go ‘God
no! It’s Riceboy Sleeps again!’ But after
that, there was a lot more going on that
the usual ethereal puffwheat that passes
for ambient music.
Thanks to his guitar manipulations,
there is a strong ebb and flow in tracks
such as ‘A Meeting At The Merry Go
Round’, while ‘Red Sky on Fire’ could be
comparable to an incredibly spaced out
Spiritualized tune.
While it doesn’t reach out and strike
your emotional core, SOBWAK is superior
background music for when you abso-
lutely need to zone out of your plane of
existence.
- BOB CLuNESS
Mount kimbie
Swords of Chaos
Miri
Sketches for Albinos
Crooks & Lovers
The End Is As Near As Your
Teeth
Okkar
Days Of Being Wild And Kind
mountkimbie
If you like electronic music and don’t
buy this, then you are an idiot
swordsofchaos
A fun ride that’s a tad short on
longevity
amiina
A special record
sketchesforalbinos
Not that wild but, rather kind
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